Pennies
by falsification
Summary: In every dollar, there are one hundred pennies. In every relationship there are one hundred moments.
1. Chapter 1: Matchbox

If there was one thing Sasuke remembered about his mother, it was that she always had a favorite thing to say to him when she put him to bed.

_"Goodnight, darling."_ She would say, pushing the hair back from his forehead. _"Have sweet dreams, Sasuke,"_ she would continue, _"And remember, dear, you always need a match to light a fire." _Then she would kiss his cheek, and tuck him in.

That used to confuse him. He would always wonder what she meant. _You need a match to light a fire?_ He wondered, late one night. _What about fathers Katon Jutsu? Or Brother's flame trick? _(His brother used to play with a tiny flame, lit on the end of his thumb, passing it from one fingertip to the other.) _They never use a match, and they can burn down whole forests! _He would grin proudly at the memory of his father and Itatchi defending the village from thieves, using his impressive fireball to set them aflame. When he asked her about it one night, she smiled knowingly and kissed him on the nose. _"You'll understand it one day, Sasuke," _She told him.

Well, he was beginning to get it now. He had been back in Konoha for exactly two years, seven months, and a week. He had realized that his feelings for his pink-haired teammate were a little (a lot) more than platonic six months, three weeks, and four days ago. And he had no idea how to break the news to anyone. So, in other words, He had no match to start their fire. He had only admitted it to himself – out loud – thirteen days ago. (And that was only murmured into his pillow at first, then screamed from a tree top sixteen miles away from the village by the end of the day.)

So, today (March 3rd) he was going to let Naruto (And maybe Kakashi) in on the news. He only hoped that neither of them congratulated him, or begin to try to beat him for it. Because everybody knows, Sasuke Uchiha is emotionally constipated, and Naruto and Kakashi are very, very protective of their dear Saku-Chan. (Which they totally are, by the way.)

He was giving himself a very well put-together pep talk while eating his breakfast (a tomato, a bowl of rice and some milk), when his kitchen window flew out of the wall, and a green flash of spandex burst into the already cramped room. In the flurry of unexpected action, his table had been knocked over, spilling both the rice and milk onto his shirt.

Recovering from shock, Sasuke rose among milk, rice, and broken glass, very wet, and very angry.

"What the hell!" he screeched, sharingan swirling. "What the hell! My kitchen is a mess!" he looked around, his hand diving for his hair, and he seemed to be valiantly trying to tear it from his scalp. He remembered that there was a green-spandex clad _monster_ standing proudly in his mess of a kitchen, seemingly unaffected by his error.

Sasuke spun on the perpetrator (Good day to you, Sasuke-kun!), glaring violently, and stabbing an accusatory finger at him. "And _YOU. _YOU! What the fuck do you think you were doing? You can't just destroy my fucking kitchen and act like it was nothing! You crazy, spandex wearing Fuck!" by the end of his small tangent, he was breathing heavily, nostrils flaring, and teeth gnashing.

Sasuke glared at Guy for a few more seconds before the man burst into tears, streams of salt water pouring from his eyes.

"OH, SASUKE-KUN! I AM SO VERY SORRY ABOUT YOUR HOME, AND MY DESTROYING OF IT! I ONLY WISHED TO EXPRESS THE OVERWHELMING JOY I FELT AT THE PROSPECT OF JOINING YOU FOR BREAKFAST, THAT I WANTED TO MAKE A SPECTACULAR, SHOW-WINNING ENTRANCE INTO YOUR HOME!" Guy would have continued his tear filled apology for another twenty-three mind numbing minutes if it had been Sakura or Naruto. But since it was Sasuke, the emotionally unstable one, this particular rant only had him becoming angrier and angrier.

"A 'SPECTACULAR, SHOW-WINNING ENTRANCE INTO MY HOME?' You call that a spectacular, show-winning entrance? That was destructive and irresponsible!" Sasuke yelled. By now, his hands had flown in the air, and he was animatedly waving and gesturing to random things. "You know what would have been spectacular? If you had used the FUCKING DOOR, YOU STUPID FUCKER!" He was choking on his anger, because now he would have to fix his wall, buy a new window, install it, and take a shower.

He chased the still tearful Guy out of his home, and eventually all the way to the gates, where he was restrained enough for Guy to escape, threatening to stab him in various parts of his body all the way.

It was then that our favorite blonde shinobi strolled over, intent on visiting his friend Sasuke, only to discover the kitchen wall to be mysteriously missing, and the house to be eerily empty.

"Sasuke?" He called. It echoed. He cautiously entered, kunai at the ready.

He threw it with a fury at the upper left corner of the den, singing Sasuke's cat, Tomata, who was sitting on top of the bookshelf. The grey feline had been batting at a fly, making a little too much, too-little-to-be-obvious noise. The cat yowled in angry pain, and flew at him.

Naruto had stayed up a little too late the night before, and as a result, his reflexes were a little too slow.

So, instead of dodging the angry, grey fur ball, like he should have been able too, the cat latched onto his face, furiously ripping at the (unfortunately) sensitive skin there. Naruto screeched in pain.

"OI! TEME! OWWW… GET YOUR-OW! STUPID CAT OFF MY FAAACE… OUCH! TEME! HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS RAMEN! SOMEONE GET THIS CRAZY FREAKING THING AWAY FROM MY FACE! TEEEMEEE!" He screamed. He began to cry when no one seemed to hear him.

Somewhere, far, far away, Sakura heard the vague-but-familiar sound of Naruto being attacked by a cat. She immediately flew out the window and followed the faint 'OW's and the, 'Fuck, why can no one hear me, I'm like on the street!'s, screaming, "I'm coming to your rescue, Naruto!"

She arrived on the scene at the same time Kakashi and Sasuke did, although she had ran all the way there, and they had just walked.

"Oh my God! What the hell's happening!" she gawked at the scene. Sasuke had to strain to hold back blush when she turned on him, eyes wide and pleading, her dainty hand reaching out a placing itself on his shoulder pleadingly. "Sasuke, you have to help him!" she pleaded.

He scowled. "Why? He got himself into this, he can get him self out." He said, sure that absolutely no one could arguer with his logic.

"Sasuke, please! It's your cat! You have to help him!"

He looked around. A crowd was gathering, some laughing, others wincing in sympathy. _I bet they get attacked by cats on a regular basis, too, _he thought.

Grudgingly, he stalked through his open kitchen (_Guy…)_ and reached around in the rubble of his cabinets, searching for Tomata's favorite kitten treats.

When he found them, all he had to do was _shakeshakeshake _the can.

Almost immediately, the angry, shrill sounds of Tomata's yowling cut off. He soon saw the cat, sprinting to get a reward. For what, he didn't know. Because in the end, attacking his best friend did not deserve anything.

His cat was soon followed by Sakura, who hugged him, then ran out of the kitchen again, sending him a questioning glance on her way. He just shrugged. She smiled, and then disappeared. He stumbled out of the crushed remains, to find her hefting up Naruto's half limp body.

"Hey, Sasuke," she called, sounding somewhat strained. (Even though they both knew she could lift both of them with one finger) He raised is brows to show he'd heard.

"Could you - mhph – help me with this?"

He sighed, but slid his arm around Naruto's shoulders, and slung his lax arm around his.

"C'mon," he said, realizing that Naruto was heavier than he looked, but not really caring.

They half dragged, half carried their friend to the hospital. (Even though they both knew that she could heal him, even though they both knew she wanted to. Even though she knew that she would rather have an excuse to spend time with Sasuke. (She knew Naruto would be happy to serve as her excuse, if it made everybody happy, and caused no one harm.)) When they arrived, they both watched him go around the corner, after being taken by Sakura's favorite nurses, an elderly woman named Chi, and a slightly younger one named Hana.

Sakura turned to him, smiling expectantly. "So…" she drawled.

Sasuke blinked. "Come with me," he said, not waiting for her answer, knowing she would have said yes.

He dragged her halfway across the village, and down a familiar street, where the team's favorite ramen stand was.

When he sat her down, and shoved a menu into her hand, she smiled deviously.

"Sasuke…?"

"Hn."

"Are we having lunch? Together?"

He blushed lightly, scowled, but said nothing.

Sakura put a quizzical finger to her lips. "I might even venture so far as to call it a _date."_ She said, punctuating the words carefully.

"Don't push it…" he warned. His ears were a glowing red.

She giggled delightfully. "Okay, then. It's a pre-test. Or a pre-_date._" Wiggling her slight fingers at him, she received a scowl. But she saw that when he turned his head away, there was a hint of a smirk lingering on his lips.

He had a strange, unfamiliar _glowing_ in his heart. He knew then that he had found his match. The match to light the fire.

So, there you have it. The first of many, many chapters. MANY. Enjoy, and feel free to review, feedback is the only thing keeping me ALIVE. (jk. There's food and water and music as well.) Have you noticed that I have fallen in love with parentheses? They are great. Like, they buy me flowers, and take me to dinner, and they, just, like, totally rock! Teehee!


	2. Chapter 2: Wither

..::!Chapter 2!::..

Wither

It was late one night - _way _too late – when she stumbled into her apartment half-dressed and half drunk, carrying three plastic shopping bags from her local market.

Naruto was behind her.

They had gotten drunk that night on a whim because she was angry and sad and he was too.

So, in their intoxicated state, they decided that it would be infinitely amusing to make an elaborate five-course dinner, and then eat it all. And that lead to them having a footrace to the market, disturbing the quiet peace of the night, and then they literally knocked four carts and six stands over fighting about who won. (It was Sakura.)

When they finally made it to the market, they were laughing like buffoons and having a 'who can tell the dirtiest joke' contest. (_Way_ louder than they should have been, by the way.) Naruto won that one, to absolutely no ones surprise. They gathered their ingredients at a less-than-snails-pace pace, much to the chagrin of the angry shop owners.

So, about half an hour later, they were there, stumbling into the small apartment, still yelling at the man who told them to shut up, even though he was long gone.

The bags spilt across the counter, boxes of pasta and crackers, tubes of spray cheese  
>(they still to this day, have no idea who thought that would ever be useful. They both agree that it was probably Naruto.) (It wasn't.) and whipped cream, cans of tomato paste and pineapple all rolling and sliding across the recently polished wood counter. With ninja quickness that only ninjas possess, Naruto leapt over the counter and heroically rescued all the store-bought goods in his well muscled and rasengan toned arms. Sakura stood there, a dumbfounded expression on her face.<p>

Naruto's face split in a sunny grin, teeth gleaming. He threw the stuff back on the counter, and they began cooking, sorting out recipes and making a complete mess of the place. Somewhere between the cutting and stirring the head of lettuce was forgotten, in the bottom drawer of the fridge.

They were up for the next few hours, telling jokes and having battles in the kitchen like only best friends do.

Naruto fell asleep on the counter, face pressed against the fridge. Sakura passed out on the couch, but around four she fell off.

It was eleven forty-three when Naruto woke up to a messy kitchen and a lightly snoring best friend. He smiled at her, because she had rolled under the coffee table during the night.

It was twelve sixteen when Sakura woke up, under a light blanket and on her sofa. She stood up and cracked her back, running a hand through her hair nonchalantly. Yawning, she walked to her small kitchen, expecting the worst- only to find it sparkly clean.

Confused, she walked to her room. She found a note.

_Sakura, _

_ I cleaned your kitchen for you, because I love you that much. _

_No, actually it was because now you owe me one week of free ramen. _

_ Love, Naruto_

She read it through six more times before she grasped what the hell it said. When she did, she swore. She couldn't afford a week worth of ramen, not the way Naruto ate it, and not on a ninja's salary. She swore.

It was three weeks later when she was cleaning out her fridge, and she found the withering head of lettuce. She picked it up, and was struck with the strangest idea.

She wondered briefly what it would be like to watch Sasuke wither. If, when he came back, they got married (unlikely, she told her self. Way past giving herself false hope.) She wondered if they would get old enough for his hair to star turning grey. For his skin to wrinkle and sag. She decided that it would be weird. Entertaining. But weird nonetheless.

"Are you coming or not, forehead?" Ino called from the door. They were going out to lunch with Naruto and Hinata. (This was part of their plan to get them together. She and Ino would pretend to have forgotten about their hospital duty, and leave. It was clever.)

"Uh, Yeah… Hold on." She stood up, and giving the lettuce one last look, she tossed it out her window.

"Forehead!"

"Shut up, pig!"


	3. Chapter 3: Heat

..::! Chapter 3 !::.

Heat

Sakura mopped her forehead with her hand, groaning loudly. Barely ten seconds later, it was covered in sweat again.

"_Uhg…_ This level of heat is ridiculous. It's not even… I just don't, like, understand WHY. " She complained. Because really, this heat was unacceptable. She was currently laying on her bed, head dangling off the end. She was scantily clad in only her panties and a tank top. The doors leading out into the balcony were wide open, allowing the small breeze to trickle in to the room, blowing the light blue drapes into the room.

Her head popped up as the doorbell rang.

"Oh shit." She rolled off her mattress, and grabbed the first pair of shorts she could find. "Hold on, doorbell ringer! I'll get to you, I'm just naked!" She winced because clearly that was not the right thing to say under any circumstances.

In the midst of pulling on the shorts and hopping_ (walking? Walking is for squares. Pah.)_ to her door, she tripped on something _(it was probably that damned left foot of hers.) _and bashed her elbow on her couch and rug burned both her knees. She swore quite loudly and violently pulled the shorts up, harming other parts of her body in the process.

By the time she finally stood up, now fully dressed, the doorbell ringer had rung the bell six more times.

_("HOLD ON, DAMNIT!") _

She whipped the offending one-inch thick sheet of wood out of her way and stared indignantly at the man on the other side.

She blinked.

"Sasuke?"

Her voice reverberated down the hall, sounding pleasantly surprised, even to her. _Jeesh._

He nodded to her, and, without asking permission, shouldered around her and…

Sat on her couch.

_What the hell?_

Turning to face him, she spoke.

"_Soooo,_" She trailed off, pursing her lips. He arms swung behind her and clasped behind her back, feet rocking her weight to and fro.

He looked around, finding the remote to the television.

Glancing at her, he explained blatantly, "I'm spending the day here," Then he obliviously continued to flip through the channels. He continued to ignore her after several minutes of awkward silence and steamy glares.

("_It's hot.")_

He took his shirt off.

_Poker face, Sakura. Poker face. Now is the time for full-out, balls-the-wall poker face. Now. Go. Seriously, do it. _

…_Bitch. _

And so, the remainder of the day was spent in awkward silence and shirtless-ness, and then Sasuke left and no one ever mentioned that ever, ever again.

If only…

The day actually went something like this.

So the awkward silence and shitless-ness _did_ actually happen, however! The latter was eventually mutual. (_The former disappeared not so long after the mutual shirtless-ness part, I assure you._)

But THEN!

Sakura shrugged after a few moments of pure awkward, deciding that there was no benefit of kicking him out, and plopped down next to him. He glanced.

She sighed again, trying to meditate silently, only to be interrupted again by his voice, quiet and embarrassed.

"Were you really… naked?"

She stood up.

Stare.

Stare.

Scrutinizing Stare.

Glare.

Glare.

Glare.

"What."

He averted her eyes.

"You heard what I said."

"YEAH? WELL…!"

Eyebrow raise.

"Well…?"

Awkward blush.

Fidget.

"WELL. Yes. No, no I wasn't 'naked', per say, just… under-clothed."

Red face. _(Uchiha's DO NOT BLUSH!)_

"Oh."

AWKWARD.

She blinked again, and turned to the kitchen to get some water.

_(Maybe that'll calm down the huge hormonal storm that is brew- HORNY! –ing. OHMYGOD, SHUTTHEHELLUP!) _

"Sasuke!" She yelled down the hall, already pouring one glass of water, second at the ready.

"Ah."

"Want some water?"

"Ah."

_(Am I supposed to know what the hell that means?) _

She returned to her living room to see that he'd finally settled on a channel. It was some sort of educational crap and it was showing a picture of an ancient weapon or tool or something.

She accidentally sat a bit too close to him, but observed that, although he glanced again, he didn't move away. _Hm. _

She took a drink to try to fill the otherwise silence, but in her nervous state, how could she expect to actually put the glass in its necessary position? She shouldn't have.

Instead of her mouth, it had missed and water had gone all over her, hitting mostly her shirt but drenching almost everything.

Her mouth hung open and Sasuke had sworn, gotten up, and sat down again.

He just sat there, mouth opening and closing at five-second intervals.

She blinked, shrugged. _Can't possibly get any worse, _She thought.

And then she took her shirt off.


End file.
